Where the Horizon Meets the Sky
by Feniiku
Summary: oneshot Sonic is curious as to what lies behind the Winter Aurora


**Where the Horizon Meets the Sky**

_Author's Note: _This little story came to mind as I drew a picture for my desktop wallpaper. The picture is on my DeviantArt account, under the same title, if you wish to have a look.

_Disclaimer:_ Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters belong to SEGA/Sonic Team.

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Where the Horizon Meets the Sky

_Through all dreams and nightmares,_

_Through all doors and gates,_

_Another path is always there,_

_Another world awaits._

_How to get there is a question,_

_And we tell you why,_

_No one makes it to the gate,_

_Where the Horizon meets the Sky._

Soft snow crunched underfoot as Sonic the Hedgehog walked casually along the streets of Station Square. The cold sunlight had managed to penetrate the pale grey clouds long enough to illuminate the newly fallen snow, and the cobalt mammal was quite happy to be out in it. His thin red jacket hung loosely on his shoulders, and a red woollen hat was perched atop his head.

Sonic stretched, taking a deep lungful of the crisp winter air, and grinned. To him, every day was wonderful, every ray of sun and flake of snow, every smile and every tear; he treasured all of it. Especially since his usual exploits tended to leave little time to stop and watch each day pass.

He pulled his gloved hand away from his shredded left ear as his friend; a golden orange fox named Miles; walked up to him, carrying a bag full of shopping in his arms, and a wide grin on his face. The fox was bundled up in a long scarf and a large, knee-length coat, which left the ends of his twin tails protruding out from under the edge, looking much like oversized pompoms. As Sonic took the bag from Tails, he laughed.

"You really need all those layers little bro?"

"Well not everyone has a metabolism like yours, Sonic." Tails replied with a pout, his sky-blue eyes staring determinedly at Sonic's emerald ones.

"Eh, metabolism meh. I don't think it's that cold." Sonic shrugged.

"Are you kidding?! It's colder than when the sun was hidden behind all those clouds!" the fox breathed a puff of condensation to prove his point.

"Whatever Tails. Let's get this stuff home before you decide you're gonna turn into a fuzzy lollipop."

Sonic laughed again at the indignant growl from the fox, and started walking towards the train station. The sound of the snow crunching behind him showed Tails had decided to follow the hedgehog, and Sonic smirked again. Every time he knew he could win an argument with the fox by turning and pretending to leave. Tails would follow and not bother trying to argue again.

The occasional whisper from people they passed got no more attention than a flick of an ear, and nobody bothered to press him for autographs whilst he was carrying Tails' shopping. Which suited him just fine. He'd never been one for attention, though his public face wouldn't show that.

"The train to Mystic Ruins will be departing soon."

"C'mon Tails, move it or lose it!" Sonic jogged playfully up the stairs and into the station, followed closely by his furry fox friend.

A short train ride later, they were trudging through the deep snow between the station and Tails' workshop. Sonic had taken it upon himself to start reciting bad jokes he'd heard in passing, making them funny in the fact that he forgot how most of them went. Tails had finished pouting at his friend, and was grinning and correcting the aforementioned bad jokes. The sound of the nearby waterfall crashing into the lake below it drowned out a rapid succession of the worst puns Sonic had ever told in Tails' knowledge, and the rushing of the river below the bridge they crossed served to silence the hedgehog's jokes altogether.

Passing the icy bridge, and with the hill on which Tails' workshop stood in view, Sonic perked up again and started singing something rather loud and rather crude, until he got a snowball thrown into the back of his head, and a command to shut up. Tails raced past him in a flurry of snow, and Sonic laughed, charging forwards and catching up easily, but letting the fox keep his lead by a small margin. After all, Sonic didn't think Tails wanted his shopping shattered by too much speed.

They stopped at the entrance to the workshop, and Sonic aimlessly looked at the sky, noticing a faint flickering colour dancing across it northwards. He smiled, and followed Tails inside, putting the bag on a table that was a little less cluttered than the rest, before leaping over the back of a chair and laying on his stomach across it to avoid tearing it with his quills. Tails was a little more reserved, choosing instead to throw his coat and scarf onto a nearby hanger, then sit on a comfortable armchair nearby.

"Oi Tails, y'know something?"

"What Sonic?"

"I wanna see the Aurora."

"The Aurora?" Tails frowned, then raised an eyebrow "What, all the way up north?"

"Yeah! I mean, that's one of the few places I've heard of and never been to, and I'd love to see them." Sonic's expression was wistful, and there was a spark behind his eyes that Tails recognised as a danger signal.

"Sonic, it honestly wouldn't be a good idea..."

"But wouldn't you wanna see if the legends about the lights are true?"

"No, I wanna stay at home, in the warm, and be sensible."

"But Tails..."

"Sonic, please think logically for a moment. I know you're perfectly capable of it." Tails sighed as Sonic gave an irritated snort and looked at him with more than just a hint of annoyance. "It's freezing up there, even with your ridiculous metabolism I doubt you could handle it."

"That's why you're gonna fly me there in the plane!"

"No, that's why you're staying here with me."

"Tails..." Sonic sat up, the excited spark being replaced by a dangerous flash "I'm _going_up there, and I am _going_ to see if the rumours are true."

"Please Sonic..."

"I'll be there and back in a couple of hours!"

"Sonic! Listen to me for one damned minute will you?" Tails growled at his stubborn friend. "You. Will. Freeze!"

"I will be fine!" Sonic darted to the door, running out just as he heard Tails answer him.

"Don't expect me to come save your sorry carcass again!" the fox yelled before the door slammed.

Tails slumped back into the seat, sighing. After the times they'd been through together, he'd have expected Sonic to take his advice at least once in a while. But when Sonic was determined to find out something, he would find it out at sooner or later. And his patience, or lack thereof, often led to the former. Tails just hoped that this time Sonic's luck would prove the hedgehog right and the fox wrong.

"I'm still not gonna go get him."

Meanwhile, Sonic was charging northwards in a flurry of snow and followed by a crash of a sonic boom. He rocketed past Cities, through Zones, past their Villages, and shot across the surfaces of lakes that were across his path. The icy water splashing in his face merely served to make him run faster, so as not to slow enough that the surface would break beneath his feet. He'd left his hat at Tails', and was regretting it because his ears were getting very sore with the cold. But being the stubborn person that he was, he persisted in rocketing onwards, determined to see the Aurora properly, with his own eyes.

Scenery blurred as he pushed forwards, making himself run as fast as he could. He was going to see them tonight! Mountains and forests looked the same to his tunnelled vision as he blasted past them, the sound and the shock wave causing minor avalanches to tumble down from the peaks more than once. Over the horizon to the east he could see the vague silhouette of the Floating Island, and momentarily envied the view he imagined Knuckles would be having from up there. But quickly shrugged it off, deciding that he'd rather have the room to run fast enough that he could hear the slipstreamed wind through his spikes and the echo of the boom behind him.

As he raced onwards, the minutes blurred into hours. Sonic knew the distance was great, but so long as he could run there, Sonic could enjoy letting his mind empty and his body warm itself with the movement. The wind on his face was chill, but he hardly felt it through the pure exhilaration of running at full speed. That was one advantage of going further north. Less populated areas meant less to obstruct his speeding, and less risk of hurting himself or someone else by crashing. He laughed at the thought. Crashing was something that apparently happened whenever he tried running over a hundred or so miles per hour in the Cities and Zones he was used to, let alone the ones he wasn't.

So the wide expanse of snow and ice he found himself on when he finally skidded to a halt was a welcome relief. He looked around, and decided that after he'd found out about the legends, he'd have a good, long run. His heart was pumping with the adrenalin rush from his previous journey, and he decided that if he was going to push it again, it needed a bit of a rest or it would explode. And that was something he didn't really want it to do. He heard a faint ringing noise, and looked towards the horizon. Where it met the sky, points of colour could be seen, and suddenly they were ribboning through the air above him, raining their light and their icy song down upon the hedgehog below.

"The Aurora..." Sonic breathed, hardly daring to speak aloud in case it was a dream.

He watched the writhing tendrills of light dance through the cold sky, and walked slowly towards the point where he saw them first. Their song was eerie, and beautiful; much like the one he'd learned that Chaos Energy sang. Ignoring the alarms this thought set off in his head, he walked onwards.

Hushed voices whispered melodically along to the ringing music of the Aurora, and the snow beneath his red and white sneakers crunched a percussion. Sonic looked up into the air as he walked, watching what he imagined were wispy figures leaping from one ribbon to another, dancing with the lights in the sky.

Then, without warning, Sonic found it. The thing he had been looking for.

And as he reached out to run a hand across its surface, he shivered,and realised just how cold he had gotten. Every limb was almost impossible to move, and there were icicles adorning his fur and weighing down his tatty ears. He turned away and, with difficultly, forced himself to slowly ease up into a jog, then into a slow run.

As the mountains drew into sight, his limbs refused to move, and he fell face down into the biting cold of the snow. His jacket did nothing to stave off the frigid temperatures now, yet he found he was past caring. The orchestra of the Aurora soothed him to unconsiousness.

"Sonic..."

The voice, he knew that voice. He croaked a vague reply past his drowsiness, before slipping away again.

"Sonic... Are you okay now?"

"Uhhnnn... T-Tails? Where..."

"We're home. I had to go get you, you were bound to be stupid enough to keep running."

Sonic's eyes cracked open and he stared sleepily at the ceiling, wondering silently where all the pretty colours had gone. But his thoughts were interrupted by his fuzzy friend pointing at a cup of something warm and steaming, which smelled inviting. The hedgehog's stomach rumbled, and he struggled to sit up, looking around as he grabbed the cup of tomato soup with both hands. He was tucked up in the bed he used when staying around Tails' workshop, and seemed to be none the worse for the wear, apart from being a bit cold.

"Promise me you won't do something so stupid again!" The fox berated, and Sonic smiled weakly.

"Promise me you'll knock me out if I try..."

"Deal." Tails laughed as Sonic supped the soup. "So, did you find what you were looking for?"

"... Tails, I wish I had brought a camera with me... It was amazing. The sky... it was singing." Sonic wiped the tears that were forming away as he remembered the song. "It was so beautiful."

Tails nodded and got up, instructing Sonic to try get some more rest once he'd finished that soup. Before he could leave, however, the hedgehog answered his question.

"I did find it Tails... And I'll never see something like that again... I can't... describe it, but I'll never forget it... The place where the worlds cross...The place..." Sonic smiled at the fox "...Where the horizon meets the sky..."

End

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_A/N:_tell me what you thought of this please, I'd appreciate all feedback. I was aiming for a little story for my artwork, and listening to Josh Groban's music settled my mind on what to write. I have never heard that singer before, and it is like... What I feel Sonic heard. 


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